Fred And George

Dorian

First, it’s amazing to me that I still don’t remember the TRUE title of this book. I always refer to it just as Dorian, then remember it’s Dorian Gray--completely forgetting it’s actually “The Picture of Dorian Gray”

I love this book so, so much. Forget the ridiculousness of homophobia in general and in the book, for Oscar Wilde to have written this book, have the visual degree he had, the understanding he had--it baffles and bothers me that people really considered anything else except for the pure genius that he was with this story and concerned themselves with other things. 

First, for the story, the use of the painting and Dorian as a split between him and his soul is amazing. While he begins his journey with a great lack of understanding, it brings about the idea that without consequences many will go astray--while also pointing out that those who choose to put their value in images or status instead of nature and character are going to be missing the truth about people--warned by Sybil, the painting and Bail’s disbelief of the rumours

Secondly, Dorian’s journey over the 18 years that were inspired by Basil’s painting and Lord Henry’s small chat, along with Dorian’s lack of follow thru to stay with Sybil both before and after her death--what concerns me with this is the reflection that that at that point his fate is sealed. While later true, Dorian and the other characters take the easy way out and similarly to my first point go towards the path of least resistance--in more ways than one, regardless of the logic or lack of behind it. 

Finally, and for me, the most awe-striking genius that I continue to be stunned by is the ending where Dorian meets his demise. While I know that our creativity comes from an inspiration within, the ending especially (along with the idea of the painting in general) was so ahead of its time. I am again in awe

图书馆

China is an extremely complex country, while many question why Chinese are okay with censorship and high government regulation, others understand that there are positive and negatives of why they operate and how. I do not extend this to the current situation in Hong Kong, where the people re adamant about wanting to remain separate from China as promised but with the pros and cons of any decision and particularly the decisions and lifestyle in the mainland.

While in some ways more advanced, early last year China’s public libraries were ordered to have a major overall with a standardization of access to all. This included set open hours of operation even during holidays and on weekends, open public spaces, service programs and easy access to information. (1) Additional focus was put on protecting individual’s research and information protected from hackers, special services and safety access for the elderly and disabled and educational activities focused on children. These activities are also multicultural, physical and conversational with centers including family reading campaigns, foreign language training, art and culture exhibitions including books and other community activities available in various foreign languages. (2)

Multi-layered, China has successfully educated and increased their residents access to certain aspects of information and has promoted the access and diversity of information that does not hold the mirror close

 (1)    https://news.cgtn.com/news/7859544d35637a6333566d54/share_p.html

(2)    https://www.emeraldgrouppublishing.com/librarians/management/viewpoints/china.htm?part=5

Food, Inc.

Director: Robert Kenner

Film website: http://www.takepart.com/foodinc

Images: google search

To open my mind I decided to watch a documentary per week, the first one was Food Inc. the idea of this documentary was to show the public the truth about the food industry, the truth that is being deliberately hidden from us. Over the past fifty years the industry has changed more than the previous ten thousand, but “the image of our food is still the image of Gregorian America”.

Learning about sustainability, I was taught that you must think about it as a pure solution, meaning it must be socially just, economically just as well as environmental. A product is not sustainable if it is cheap and doesn’t harm the planet, but those who make it are treated poorly or underpaid.

This documentary is broken into related chapters that discuss how this omission of truth is perpetuated throughout the food industry. First in Monopoly of Food you learn the basics of how the assembly line being integrated into the food industry, enabling them to grow and grow into a power, absolute power. Absolute power corrupts absolutely.

One woman, Carol, works as a chicken farmer for Perdue. Even with open windows, it looks and feels like a concentration camp—thru the screen into my NYC apartment. The chickens are all bocking and running but nowhere to go. But there not running, the rapid growth of their breasts does not match with the normal rate of their bones and internal organs so they can only take a few steps before they collapse.

She talks about her own lack of control—the initial agreement with a company is an “initial investment” into t a chicken house, but then you have to pay for new equipment, upgrades and maintenance as said by the company or lose your contract so you just go deeper and deeper into a financial hole. She feels degraded, Perdue declined to do an interview for this film as many others and ended Carols contract when she refused to “upgrade” to windowless coops. I guess she didn’t want to degrade her chickens.

On the other hand we have Vince, a chicken farmer for Tyson. He comes on before Carol with sweet light country music in the background and more than a bit of hillbilly in his voice. He talks about how the chicken industry saved his neighborhood when the tobacco industry left and proudly shows off the coops of his and local farmers. But what gets me is where his heart is; ““if you could grow a chicken in 49 days why would you want one you gotta grow in three months—more money in your pocket. These chickens never see sunlight, they’re pretty much in the dark all the time”. On screen a message comes up

Vince had offered to show us inside his chicken houses. But after multiple visits by Tyson representatives, he changed his mind

Carol feels degraded, Vince is in the dark.

But it’s not just how the people are treated that is deplorable or how animals are treated beforehand that make them unsafe, it is also how they are processed after. CAFO short for Concentrated Animal Feeding Operation deals with both the before and after their death.

The true deplorable outcome is seen with the death of two-year-old Kevin Kowalcyk who died due to as explained to his parents Hemorrhagic E.Coli (you know Hemorrhagic, internal bleeding, like Hemorrhagic fever also known as Ebola) from eating a hamburger contaminated with E.Coli. His mother, Barb, in a meeting with her Colorado State Representative Diana DeGette, tells that while her son was already in the hospital when the plant that processed the hamburger was inspected, it took another 16 days after he died for it to be closed. That delay is inexcusable. Now, Barb is meeting with her representative in her fight for Kevin’s law which would give the USDA back the ability to close down plants that repeatedly failed inspection, a responsibility and job taken away from them when sued by Supreme Beef. In December 2001 the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals agreed that the Agriculture Department does not have the authority to shut down a meat-processing plant that repeatedly failed tests for salmonella contamination. This makes me question that USDA organic stamp of approval, and as Barb says

“we put faith in our government to protect us, and we are not being protected at a most basic level”

The Dollar Menu

I remember seeing this clip in school, and it’s a great additive to see things from a different perspective of understanding the situations of the poor; and a very, very hidden cost of food. Maria Andrea Gonzalez talks for –and she can go on for much longer. She feels guilty, now that she knows that the food is unhealthy for her children and her husband who is very sick and takes many, expensive, medications. But they work hard long hours and she would love to feed her children better. But they can get 5 hamburgers, 2 chicken sandwiches and 3 drinks for $11.48. The pears and broccoli are $0.99 and $1.29  per pound and it won’t feed them. Candy is cheaper, chips are cheaper soda is really cheap and when you only have a dollar to spend to feed your kids—you don’t want them to go hungry. They are not the only ones in their community that are facing these problems, and there’s is not the only community facing these problems. There are people in your community who deal with this too, you included. Maybe you just don’t know

What would you find if you calculated the cost of multiple fast foods, stomach cramps, diabetes, extra health insurance extra tests and so on and so on into your monthly budget of fast food? Would it really be cheap?

In the Grass

Faster fatter bigger cheaper is the mindset of the industrial food industry, not of what process makes healthy, good food. The decisions of what we eat and how what we eat is handled and created is no longer done by farmers, but of corporations that are far from seeing the ugly truth. You can get arrested and fined for taking a picture of a food processing plant, because they want you to be in the dark. If the process, as we saw with Vince from Tyson earlier in the film, was shown the companies know that people would not be happy. The live off omitting the truth, survive off it, profit off it.

You hear a lot about how illegal immigrants take your jobs; but how?

Eduardo Pena, a union organizer, shows how illegal workers of Smithfield Foods slaughterhouse in Tar Heel, North Carolina are taken in the middle of the night with an agreement with immigration to avoid slowing of production by only taking a few each night instead of a big raid. No one arrests anyone Smithfield managers,

“We want to pay the cheapest price for our food, we don’t understand that that comes at a price” these workers have been here for ten to fifteen years, processing your bacon packaging your ham and now they are getting picked up like they are criminals and these companies are making billions of dollars”

Hidden Costs

We dive more into the hidden or displaced costs of our “cheap food” with David Runyon asking the main question

“Is cheapness everything that there is? I mean are we willing to buy the cheapest car?”

He likes where he is, he makes enough to live and supplies the customers that he has, for him if more and more people come well then he’ll see. But he fears that once you “go for that growth” how you see your customers and products and market changes. But that’s for him, a ‘corporate organic’ food company, is not an oxymoron.

I cannot speak for Gary Hirshberg, the CEO of Stonyfield Farm.But starting from scratch, an idealistic background and working on bringing organic to the forefront and not only an option but a preferred option for consumers; to have Walmart knock on your door to hear how you do it and have you two work together so your product can grow more must be a top ten if not the highlight my career so far.

In addition, Tony Airoso, the Chief Dairy Purchaser of Walmart confirms the old thought and expression that the consumers do have the power of the dollar even with the biggest companies and monarchies. They’re going organic, having it as an option because with every scanned product the saw a trend in their customers wanting organic and when they know it’s what their customer’s wants, “it’s really easy to get behind it”

But on the road to change in every battle there are peaks and there are valleys and even if you know nothing about the food industry, going organic, equal rights, the rights of farmers, I’m sure you now the company Monstanto

From Seed to the Supermarket

Here we meet Moe Parr a Seed Cleaner and Troy VP American Corn Growers Association. Both tried to continue their careers, unrelated to Monstanto, but we’re sued anyway. Both gave in, Moe who had spent over 25,000 dollars before even stepping foot inside a court room and Troy who had spent 400,000 was going to have to spend at least another million to go to court settled because they just couldn’t afford it

Another, more famous case not with Monsanto but similar, was when Oprah was sued due to the Veggie (ironic) libel laws when she gave her opinion about not liking a burger by texas cattleman for loss of profit. After six years and nearly one million in litigation she won—but really, who other than Oprah can do that

The food industry fights and fights to not have food labeled as being for foreign countries, as containing GMOs, the calories, so much that we now label things organic. But really think, why should it be labeled organic. A carrot is a carrot unless it’s not, why can’t we assume that a carrot is a carrot. Why isn’t is the other way around?

The documentary ends a few more shocks, but mostly tips and hope for us and the food industry, with “This Land is your Land” playing in the background. Because we do have the power, every conscious buy tells the food industry what we want and if Walmart will change and see’s it profitable to change; then we can get them all to change.

A Pen of Chocolate and Exhaustion (not bad)

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Gabe Lewis

Gabe’s Best Moment: Season Seven, Episode Sixteen: PDA 

When he designs the Treasure Hunt for Erin for Valentine’s Day. There’s a jigsaw puzzle, she gest to visit Darryl, he puts up stars for her, gets her sparkling cider (not champagne) and a cookie that brings her right to him.

Gabe’s Worst Moment: Season Seven, Episode Twenty-Five: Search Party Part 1 

When he signals to Toby and Jim if they would ‘wrap up’ Kelly’s interview and then explaining to her that she’s not qualified or considered a serious candidate.

Gabe’s Best Line: Season Eight, Episode Four: Garden Party

In response to everyone thinking Andy throws the Garden Party to impress Robert California (as we see later it was more to impress his parents) Gabe gets annoyed because that’s a ‘classic Gabe move’

“Hey Andy, how about you don’t steal my business strategies and I won’t dress like my life is just one long brunch” (Season Eight, Episode Four: Garden Party)

Gabe’s Most Memorable Moment: Season Seven, Episode Fifteen: The Search

When Gabe sets these ground rules for the Caption Contest

1.      No captions that insult the company

2.      No pop-culture references

3.      To use the stick-quips

Re-imagined, Reinstated, Regretted

Today many libraries are closed because of…..ahhh!

 For a few, today is Christopher Columbus day and with it being removed many have fought for it to remain as part of Italian’s contributions and mark on the U.S. But that’s stupid, whenever Christopher Columbus was celebrated or taught we learned about how he sailed for Spain and ate Turkey with Native Americans—not his Italian Heritage. Instead join in on the celebration and reflection of Indigenous people and the Native Americans slaughtered and create a separate day truly for Italian Americans as a whole or focused on the many Italian-American Nobel winners (six, who are literary focused and whose work is noted as different tones of their heritageà https://theculturetrip.com/europe/italy/articles/six-italian-nobel-prize-winners-in-search-of-a-national-identity/) by dropping the loser who GOT LOST at best.

 So why is this being mentioned during National Book month or as part of this celebration and spotlight on libraries? I wasn’t taught this distinction in class, I learned it on my own. After being taught and performed a play about how Christopher Columbus discovered America it was mentioned quickly that the Vikings discovered America and questions about the contradictory lessons were ignored and I looked on my own where I could. So thank you books on shelves up high, heavy and beaten. Thank you for making HIStory not the only story left

Meredith Palmer

Meredith’s Best Moment: Season Seven, Episode Twenty-Four: Dwight K. Shrute, (Acting) Manager

After Dwight’s gun goes off she tells everyone to make a list of what’s lost for the insurance adding to her list of “a necklace, a ring, a painting—"

Meredith’s Worst Moment: Season Four, Episode Three: Launch Party)—

When she had Jim sign her Pelvic Cast and whispers to him “I’ll read this when I get home” clearly making him even more uncomfortable

Meredith’s Best Line: Season Six, Episode Twenty-Five: The Chump

“Hey, I have never cheated on, been cheated on, or been used to cheat with. “I ask…everyone in the room, ‘Are you in a relationship?’”

Meredith’s Most Memorable Moment: Season Three, Episode Seven: Branch Closing

After hearing the branch isn’t closing and therefore her pact to ‘hook up’ with someone if it does is no longer relevant, she pretends it’s still relevant when the other member of the pact Eric, a former warehouse worker, reaches out to her about it.

Films that I shouldn’t be so bitter about

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Finding Nemo was so long ago that I can’t remember why I was so against it for so long. I’m not anti-children’s movies as anyone who knows me can confirm, but I was very much against Finding Nemo, I just didn’t understand the hype. I hold off on seeing for at least two years and either finally saw it when I was sick one day or when a friend forced it on me. And oh my did I LOVE IT!! One of my friends who pushed it on me probably highly regretted doing so as then I became slightly obsessed with it, it’s hysterical. I could say that part of why I love this film is all the little lessons peppered throughout with Marlin and Nemo (parents—chill), the sharks in rehab (you can always change, friendship), Marlin and Dory (don’t judge someone too quickly) and even just Dory herself (don’t limit yourself and always look on the bright side). These add to what makes the movie enjoyable, but the movie is just funny. My favorite scene that I will laugh-cry just in the beginning of trying to tell it to someone is when they follow the mask down into the darker level of the sea and Dory thinks Marlin is her conscious because she’s (1) forgotten he exists and (2) can’t see him. Whoops.

Life of Pi, I really-really only have myself to blame. Partially due to not learning my lesson from Finding Nemo, even though it wasn’t the same situation. The story of Life of Pi didn’t really capture me in general, about how a boy maybe a tiger and how they survive a shipwreck, even thou it usually would be at the top of my list. Maybe it’s because the ‘twist’ at the end is what they didn’t want to talk about in advertisement and focused on the visual effects which I agree with the acclaim and enjoyed, isn’t usually enough to get me to watch a film. I still enjoy the story and will definitely watch it again (except for the murderous island part, while enjoyable is something to learn about in the daytime), I watched the film immediately after hearing the ending from a friend, where we are left to wonder if the Tiger, Richard Parker, was real or just Pi just trying to survive. Of course, my knowing it’s coming it lost all of why I wanted to watch it, but it was still great and thought-provoking. Just wish I got to experience it for myself, not thru someone else

 PS—And Finding Dory, ugh, beautiful

Toshokan

According to various reports on world education and intelligent, Japan is one of the best. Inspired by the Western World, Japan’s first public library or “Toshokan” was first opened in 1982. 

The Japanese government has kept their libraries updated with the changing times, made them a necessity in cities with over 50,000 residents and after World War II deemed that libraries were meant to be free, meeting the needs of residents which necessitated the creation of mobile libraries in the 1960s, way ahead of their time. Almost all schools in Japan have a school-based library, introducing children to reading at an early age. No country or current library system is perfect; however, Japan’s residents are well read and educated because they have had the opportunity and access to develop and grow.

(1) https://www.jla.or.jp/portals/0/html/libraries-e.html

Japanese High School Library tour: 

The Magician’s Nephew

Not a fan of Narnia, The Lion, the Witch and the Wardobe. It was ok, nothing as great as the first thou. Harry Potter is the book that I call home, but the first book that I became obsessed with, that I feel completely in love with, where the pages became warm, was the Magicians Nephew--and the beauty, intricacy and originality I felt for lost.

The Magician's Nephew was first great because it was real, it wasn't a story where they went on a grand adventure. These were two regular kids with regular lives that had death, greed and were just doing normal fun activities and were then forced on a "grand adventure".

This also was my first adult book, while wrote for children the adults and characters who were the antagonists weren't just evil or villainous, they were just normal. Filled with selfishness and greed, they weren't one dimensional, they showed the real consequences of human actions and loss of moral. This was a great novel, a great children's novel and a great story about humans, kids and human nature